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_ ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 471 
pptera, the true bugs. The speaker has had person- 
rience of a painful nature with at least two species of 
se insects ; the first of which was a pair of Notonectidae, 
‘Swimming bugs. Having scooped up a pair of them 
¢ hollow of my hand, on attempting to grasp them, one 
he insects inserted its beak into the ball of my thumb. 
‘ Wis an immediate burning pain in the member, which 
vee arene to swell; this pain and swelling extending to 
ie ebow in a short time. The soreness remained for several 
‘and was much more severe than the result of any bee 
ting I ever received. The other insect was a species of as- 
_ $gassin bug (family Reduviidae), which bit me between the 
= ‘fingers and caused swelling and pain to no mean extent. There 
| Me many other species which:are known to inflict painful and 
dangerous bites; among which may be mentioned 
 Conorhinus sanguisuga, sometimes known as the big bed bug. 
es a southern species and is quite troublesome at times. Also, 
— Rasahus biguttatus, a western species, said to inflict a severe 
wound, and two species which abound in Pennsylvania are 
* Melanolestes picipes and Opsecoetus personatus. In fact all 
the bugs of the family Reduviidae should be handled with 
the utmost care. There is no doubt in the mind of the:speaker, 
that the giant water bugs, Belostoma americana and Benacus 
_ griseus, are capable of inflicting severe bites, as they are known 
to be able to kill small fish almost instantly by means of the 
_ beak. However, we must admit that no report of their hav- 
Ps Sen tay cos bas cone to oar notice 
y _ Many of us will no doubt recollect the kissing bug scare 
_ which swept over the country some few years back; of the 
} _ insects reported as having done the kissing, fully 75 per cent. 
_ were true bugs which belonged to the family spoken of above. 
_ Another famous hoax of childhood was the “ear wig”; this 
P dilectionate insect, which by the way carries a pair of forceps 
at the end of its tail, was supposed to crawl into the ear of a 
_ fleeping person where it remained to torture him till “king- 
_ dom come.” Of course, the story is a myth, although insects 
” bo occasionally enter people’s ears accidentally and are a source 
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